❖ ORLAND OLSON AND HIS SCHOONER ❖ BY LEO MAHAN

Model of the schooner C. S. Holmes
Carved by Mr. Orland Olson
that he began in ca. 1934.
He is now 101 years of age.

Sail Ahoy! Avast the halyards! Come about! 

Batten down the hatches!

A story of Orland Olson and his Boat

There I, Orland Olson, was standing on the deck of the schooner, C. S. Holmes. I had seen her many times across the water in Seattle at the Foss Tug and Barge facility on Lake Washington Ship Canal. I had fallen in love with what I saw. I decided to make a model of this schooner and finally got enough courage to go to the dock where she was moored. I brought paper and pencil with me to make sketches of her and to get some dimensions of her size. I was sketching away when suddenly, a voice called out from the ship. It turned out to be the captain, Captain John Backland. He saw me standing on the dock, with pencil in hand, and invited me to come aboard to get a closer look at what was here. I tell you, my heart skipped a beat at the invitation and I hastened aboard. Then, for a moment, in my mind's eye, I could hear sounds like you see in the title above–the captain's orders bellowing across the deck. At that moment I envisioned myself as one of the shipmates. (Later when I suggested to my parents about becoming a sailor they put the brakes on that idea-and, boy, I'm glad.)
      Having drawings and details now of the ship to guide me I was ready to begin on the model. I started when I was 15 years old which would put it about 1934. My father got me a piece of straight-grained cedar, some 30-inches long and I started whittling away. At about the same time, I had met and was going with Phoebe, who became my wife. We had this thing where we would go to church and then would come back to the house. I would carve away and she was content to watch and give advice. I finished the hull, laid in the decking, put on the sails that my mom had made, and finished the rigging. Now, about 5 years later came the time to launch it. I put it in the water at what was the Golden Gardens Pond by the Sound. It was a thing of beauty, a joy to behold as the wind filled the sails and moved swiftly through the waters just like the one she was modeled after--and I was her captain!
      Life goes on. You know how it is. Phoebe and I married. We moved from place to place, job to job, house to house. The model was upstairs at times and then in the basement, never unloved––but time takes a toll on boats as well as humans. We made the move to Cristwood and the one thing my son wanted to keep was the boat. 

Orland Olson
Restoration of the C. S. Holmes
Congratulations!!

So I  brought it here and have been working at restoring it and will pass it on to him. There have been many hours of pleasure in refitting it. Making over 100 grommets to hold the sails in place, (my daughter-in-law made them out of nylon)--remembering the pulleys I made out of flattened buckshot. Ah, yes, she is the beauty that you can see in the lobby area by the dining room. The plaque tells the specifics of this marvelous schooner, built in 1893; it sailed to the Arctic, the South Pole, and the Fiji Islands carrying lumber, sealskins, and salted cod among many other items. She set a record for sailing from San Diego to Marrowstone Island in the upper Sound in 4 1/2 days."








Written by Leo Mahan.
May 2006.
Cristwood Courier
Submitted to Saltwater People by Orland's grandson, Rich Olson.  
Thanks to all of you for this great story.